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Leaders
December 2020 www.intellinews.com I Page 9
could reach 2.5 trillion rubles this year ($32 billion at the current exchange rate) and potentially some 7 trillion rubles (nearly $90 billion) by 2024.
The market is highly fragmented. Russia’s five largest online retailers and marketplaces account for under a quarter of the total industry. By comparison, Amazon alone controls half of the US commerce market, and more than a third in key European countries.
Among Ozon’s rivals is Wildberries, the number one e-commerce company in Russia, which rakes in 100 billion rubles ($1.3 billion) in quarterly revenue over Russia’s spring lockdown. However Ozon is by far the most recognized brand
among all online retailers. Other contenders for leadership in Russia’s e-commerce space include AliExpress Russia (a joint venture involving Alibaba, Mail.Ru Group, Russian telco MegaFon and sovereign fund RDIF) and Yandex. Market (which raised $1 billion earlier this year to support its ambitious plans).
Russian tech IPOs on Western exchanges
Despite the unfavorable geopolitical context, several Russian digital companies raised substantial amounts on Western exchanges in the past years — or are considering doing so in the future.
The latest cases include HR platform hh.ru, which went public on the NASDAQ in June 2019; Yandex, which raised there $460 million in June 2020; and Mail.ru Group, which is about to raise $600 million on the London Stock Exchange.
Another Russian digital major, ivi.ru, is also eyeing a Western IPO. The company did not make official statements about it yet, but two bankers last month confirmed to Reuters that ivi was considering going public in the short term.
Yandex.Taxi, the promising ride-hailing company of Yandex and Uber, was actively preparing its IPO last year. The listing, initially scheduled for 2020, has however been postponed due to market conditions surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.